ElderHelpers reviews

I signed up for Elder Helpers a couple years ago. At that time I was sent a packet of some sort and ended up having to pay around $50 for the privilege of volunteering my time. I contacted them but was quickly rebuffed - I never got called to help anyone. The only result was that they took my 50 bucks.

Here is the email exchange between myself and Elder Helpers from that time period. It speaks for itself:

Me:"Hi, I signed up with Elder Helpers a couple weeks ago (donated the fifty dollars, got the booklets, paid for the background check) At this point is it just a waiting game or can I do anything proactive to get matched up with an elder? Thanks"

Their Response:"Yes, you can read your packet and our website. "

I signed up to get help for my 90 + year old in-laws. Not really impressed. Many of the volunteers I called either never returned my calls or stated they were no longer involved with this organization. I am not paying $50 a month for nothing! They also tell you that it is the client's responsibility to report wrong or disconnected numbers. Really?? Then what am I paying for? If they had a better business model they would at least keep their database updated and regularly check in with both the client's and volunteers. I can't recommend this organization for my area in South King County Washington state.

I gladly sent in $50 with the hope of getting some assistance with my grandmother. The last 10 days I've tried calling 8 separate people listed. No one answered so left messages for those who had vm. No one has called me back to even say they couldn't help. When I emailed my concerns, I received a email response that the email was no longer valid. And wouldn't you know the phone number that you have to search for is disconnected. I should have known when no one in health care, social services are even government services have any heard of Elder Helpers. If it's too good to be true, it is!!

This was my first time using Elder Helpers. I am very disappointed. 1 person was very rude to me on the phone, the other volunteer hung up on me when i told them who i was. I wont be using this service to help my mom. Not feeling comfortable leaving my mom with this service.

I paid the $30-some u have to pay to register ($10/monthly +22 or so for a background check) and have not been given any confirmation by background check has gone through (though the money has been processed) and I contacted customer support and according to their response email which I received twice, I should get a response in 2 business days. Meanwhile confused how this works

Wow. I wish I had read Mary's extremely unprofessional responses to reviews before giving my initial $50; I never would have donated. I want to volunteer because I can't really afford to give money to charities, but I can afford to give my time. I begrudgingly paid the $50, but now it appears that a background check is also required, which will cost additional money. I already can't afford to eat until my next paycheck because that was my last $50. I'm a grad student and have absolutely no money to pay for a background check. I'm disappointed with my experience and wish I hadn't donated to Mary and this seemingly crooked organization. So, my advice if you're considering joining Elder Helpers is simply, "Don't."

I am a college student and I thought that volunteering would be a great way to spend time when I'm not in class. I know that many seniors don't always have family and friends that visit them, so I volunteered on ElderHelpers.org. I emailed a customer care rep who told me all I needed to do was fill out an application form. I filled out the form online, uploaded a picture, gave the reason I wanted to volunteer along with other personal information. However after I submitted this information, I was told that the next step was to make an "expected contribution" of AT LEAST $50 in order to continue the application process. While donating to charities in itself is a benevolent act, it is in my opinion ridiculous to require a payment in order to volunteer. This site makes it clear that they don't care about charity or volunteer work, they care about money and that is all. I will be volunteering at a local nursing home instead. Shame on the people running this site.

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Hello Mary R,
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In your first response to my original review you called me names and told me I was mentally ill (I have copies of it). You were so disrespectful, I decided to research your company.
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I uncovered facts I could have easily used to give a deeper review of your company (not a good one, I assure you); yet, I decided to let it go and stop wasting my life on you.
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However, YOU couldn't let it go and eventually you posted a second response with a threat of legal action, if I did not take down my review.
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(I have copies of your public threat and will be happy to post them since you deleted it - I also noticed another reviewer mentioned you legally threathened her, too).
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And of course, I reported your threat to Sitejabber. They must have talked to you because you deleted both your first disrespestful response and your second threatening response, and then you posted a response with a civil tone (which I appreciated).
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But because you can't control me, you are now disrespecting my freedom of opinion again, by saying "this complaint has been annulled and must not be considered where company image and its services are concerned."

Mary, Mary, Mary, you brought me out of the woodwork with your third disrespectful response, which compels me to give this second review.
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I'd like to end this review with 2 statements:
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(1) My personal experiences with you have been bad, and I have given two reviews of it - as is my right to do.
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(2) You have one opinion of yourself and I have another, which you cannot change.
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May there be peace and quiet from here on out,
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Joy B.
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Sorry, Elder Helpers all sounded great and the reviews sounded good so I thought I'de try and find assistance for my 86 year old father and signed up with their minimum recurring monthly donation. I spent good 2 weeks leaving messages for volunteers. I never received any call backs and then the volunteers I did reach were no longer active or had moved and there was even misleading information listed on some of the volunteers. One profile listed the volunteer was with Elder Helpers for years and when I actually spoke to them to confirm her experience and time with Elder Helpers, she had no experience and hadn't ever done this before. So I gave up after that and cancelled my monthly donation and emailed Elder Helpers to inform them of my findings and felt that their database seemed to be outdated. I was really shocked by the response I received from Mary R./Customer Care Agent which was telling me that I was not a team player because she did not receive any email from me telling her which numbers were disconnected or changed... I told her I'm sorry, that was not the case. The case was I did not receive any return phone calls, there was misleading information, and volunteers were no longer active yet still listed and I don't think it's my responsibility and would not feel comfortable to speak for a volunteer to have their profile updated or changed. It also states those volunteers are not team players as well. I was seeking help, but I felt after making a donation to Elder Helpers and putting in two weeks of my time only to be insulted was really disturbing. It made me wonder how legit this organization really is and I was not going to ask for my donation back, but in this case, I did not want to support this type of organization when there are many others that are deserving unlike this one. I had no luck in recovering my donation from them so I contacted my credit card to file a dispute and they brought to my attention that Elder Helpers had already put in process the following month donation when I had only been on board two weeks. My credit card is currently in the process of disputing these charges but I don't know if I will be reimbursed because anything labelled as a donation is nearly impossible to recover according to my bank card even if it were a scam. I just want to say if it sounds too good to be true, most likely it is. My advice is to stay clear of this organization.

-Just an added update - When I put through 3-4 cancellation requests, initially their system wasn't responding so I continued to try until I finally gave up and emailed their customer care agent, Mary, which she confirmed they received my cancellations all 3-4 times! But even after she clearly confirmed my cancellation of any further donations, I was so disturbed when emails continued to pop up stating the scheduled date of my next donation!!! I ended up having to cancel my bank card to avoid them from taking any further money from me. Even still (after I cancelled my bank card) I continued to receive emails from them stating they encountered a problem while attempting to process my donation!!! even without authorization. --STRONG ADVICE - STAY CLEAR OF THIS ORGANIZATION and if you are trying to cancel, make sure to CANCEL YOUR BANK OR CREDIT CARD IMMEDIATELY. It was the only way I could put an end to this.

Did the background check and filled out all of the info and sent money requested. Don't understand. Melody

I went online to find an organization to volunteer my time and experience. However after applying this organization stated I much pay 50.00 dollars to volunteer my time. There is no way I am paying for my time. I rate your organization a zero

I did not do my research and really regret it. I was so blinded by my excitement about having the opportunity to assist elders, that I ignored the red flags all over the place. :(
First off, they tell you that you need to like their facebook page before filling out the form "We let our volunteers know about opportunities through our facebook page so you need to like the facebook page to volunteer!"This would be no problem if they actually contacted you through their facebook. I honestly feel like this statement may be a flat-out lie, since they tell you that you need to print out their flyers and post them everywhere in order to get someone to contact you (if no one has).
After giving them your personal information and creating a volunteer account, they tell you that you need to donate $50 (minimum) in order to get a free volunteer handbook (this is also in their tips on how to be the best volunteer), you have to contribute! This felt totally sketchy. Any good organization would give their volunteers a handbook and/or training for free, especially with knowing and respecting the value of their time and that not every volunteer has extra money to throw around. I was naive enough to do it (thinking I was also helping support a good organization). When you go to donate it says that your donating is going to the "Campaign for Aging Research." Sounds like a great cause, right? It certainly made me feel better after I made the donation. After doing a tiny bit of digging, the Campaign for Aging Research is just a glorified name for Elderhelpers.org (also under the domain name HealthyYears.org)...Is there an actual campaign for research going on here? After making my donation I did not receive my volunteer training e-book as promised, so I contacted elderhelpers via e-mail to let them know. I was promptly contacted by Mary (apparently the only person who works for them?), who told me I needed to contact Crowdrise (the site they use to create their fundraiser--which is actually a good website with my experience), to get my handbook. Weird?
One thing I did appreciate was that they promote getting a background check, but it's not required, which sounds potentially dangerous. There didn't seem to be any other screening done through the site, so how can elders ensured that they are going to be safe?
To make this long story a tad bit shorter--after going back and actually doing my research (and reading other volunteer/users reviews and feedback), I decided that I just wanted to delete my account. Of course it turns out that you can't even delete your volunteer account either. All they allow you to do is make yourself unavailable so that people won't contact you. Awesome. I've never come across so many weird and sketchy issues from a supposedly reputable organization. Even if they are real and do want to help others, I suggest they change the way they run things.

My experience with elders help.com has not been what I expected. I want to become an volunteer, but no one has contacted me about volunteering.

First - I signed up as a volunteer. There was no phone call or anything - I just showed up as a volunteer. I could be a mass murderer!!
Second - We tried getting a ride for my 90 year old mom. Contacted at least 5 people on the list - most had signed up years ago and had heard nothing from company - didn't even know they were on site. Needless to say - no help at all was available.
Third - We cancelled the service after first month, but were still charged. Still waiting on a refund for the second month - and think we should get one for first month too.
I have NEVER spoken to anyone at Elderhelpers. Only ever got email from one person - Mary. Is this a one woman show? I'm wondering if this is a scam.

didnt find this site easy to use or the customer service at all helpful - i therefore cancelled my DD after 1 payment and never got anywhere with this Co

I've been a 'member' or volunteer with Elder Helpers for I think the past 2+ years, and only once has a man, a senior (who along with his wife was looking for a person to help with doing their housecleaning) but while he was rather kindly sounding on the phone and everything, he lived just too far south from me here in Edmonton, so I politely declined when I discovered that it would take me 3 buses and a good hour just to get to their house.

That was over a year ago, and since then nobody in Edmonton has contacted me about being a volunteer. I'm probably going to take my name off of Elder Helpers because it's just not used in my city.

wanted to find areas for volunteering in my area-----never one call, email, (just this one asking for rating) my experience is rated 0....never got any feedback from questions...just who are you assisting, or is this just an administrative action....

this company is a scam and the jobs are fraud...they never have anything available...It is hard to contact the managers of the company for any assistance. They claim to have reached out to you, but never attempt to do so....guess they want others to think that they are doing something but their not...BEWARE PEOPLE THIS IS A SCAM1

I offered to give my valuable time and then they asked me for money before I could join the site. Moronic.

Really sketchy people. They asked me to write 5 stars without letting me choose how many stars I wanted to put.

This is hands down the worst volunteer organization I've ever dealt with. They are incredibly disorganized, their website has lots of issues, they request a $50 donation from all volunteers up front, and they never actually get a hold of you to donate your time. I wish I'd heeded the advice online to stay away from this organization. It's been a colossal waste of my time and I continue to receive emails from them to update my profile but no one ever contacts you to actually volunteer. I strongly suggest you volunteer with another organization as I have done, as I am not even positive if this is even a real organization or they just claim to be and take donations.

After filling out a questionnaire and jumping through hoops to volunteer, the applicant is faced with a mandatory demand to pay $50 in order to go ahead. WHAT?????? Supposedly, it's to cover expenses for running the website. Who are they kidding? Is this any way to treat people who want to help out? Not in my book. Who thought of this anyhow?

I signed up a month or two ago. I hoped to find someone who could help my Mom. My Dad died recently and she feels lost and lonely. I work full time and have a disabled daughter so it is hard for me to give her everything she needs. I thought that a volunteer for a couple hours a week would be wonderful for her. I signed up for a year and made several phones calls to volunteers. I did not receive any calls back. I asked for assistance and Mary told me they don't help contact volunteers. I requested that the service be cancelled and asked for a refund. Mary emailed back saying she had cancelled the service, and no volunteer would receive credit if they called me, but I have not received any refund. It is just not right!